By Blake Colston
Sports Editor
There are no nights off.
That’s Okarche head coach Aaron West’s message as his team prepares for the season opener Friday night at Preston. Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m.
West is focusing on making every player earn their spot in the rotation, which he expects to expand to 10 or 11.
“I don’t know what my starting lineup will be,” he said. “No spots are given.”
Senior P.K. Harris is the Warriors leading returning scorer after putting in 10 points per game last season. Hunter Mueggenborg, Cooper Bomhoff, Caden Schieber and Wyatt Pinkerton are also back and freshmen Jett Mueggenborg and Easton Roby are expected to contribute as well.
West said he plans to experiment with a variety of different lineups early in the season until he finds the five that looks best together. Defensively, the Warriors will be aggressive and want to press full-court for a majority of the game.
“This group plays well together and we’re deep and can do multiple things,” West said. “We could have a different leading scorer every night.”
West said Okarche had a successful summer season and has looked good this preseason. The Warriors are shooting the ball well, which was a point of emphasis in the offseason.
“I don’t want to jinx us, but we’ve looked good,” West said. “We’ve put a lot of time in to get better.”
Preston dropped Okarche 72-58 in last year’s opener on its way to a 19-10 season that ended in the Area Finals. The Pirates have four starters back from that team, West said.
“It’ll be a good test early. If we come out and compete and follow the game plan we have a chance to win,” he said.
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